


I’m Washing Me And My Clothes Bitch

by HonkBeep



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Childhood Memories, Firebending & Firebenders, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Internal Conflict, Light Angst, Male Bonding, One Shot, POV Sokka (Avatar), Past Child Abuse, Swimming, Vine refrence, Waterbending & Waterbenders, inaccurate title, no clothes are washed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28719957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonkBeep/pseuds/HonkBeep
Summary: “ Sokka realized that Zuko was opening up — something he never did. That made him the therapist, like how he was with Aang before the invasion. Doctor Wang Fire was back in business. He stroked his imaginary beard. “Like what?” He asked.”Fluffy one shot where Zuko and Sokka do some ~male bonding~ in tha swimmin hole fo today
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 82





	I’m Washing Me And My Clothes Bitch

**Author's Note:**

> idk why i wrote this but i came up with the idea for it in the shower so i was like “water!!” and now we have some nice male bonding in tha swimmin hole. 
> 
> as is the case for all my fics i just shat this out in my notes app and am posting this with no edits or anything so pls no criticism i barely even tried thank you :)

“Zuko?” Sokka asked, hearing the leaves rustle and seeing red and gold emerge from the bushes. 

“Hey, Sokka. I didn’t mean to intrude...” Sokka was bathing in the river.

“No worries. Did you just get up? I thought you were an early riser?” Sokka had to admit, Zuko didn’t look great. His hair was frazzled and there were dark circles under his eyes. He had lines on his face from the wrinkles of the sheets he’d slept on and he did not seem fully awake at all. 

“Yeah, usually,” Zuko grumbled, his already raspy voice heavy with sleep. “But I had a hard time sleeping last night so I guess I sort of ... slept in.” He pulled off his shirt and flopped belly down on a sun-soaked rock, dipping his hands in the water. After a moment, he pulled off his trousers and allowed his body to slosh in to the water. 

“...Ew! Zuko! Care to explain that warm spot! What the hell?” 

Zuko scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I didn’t pee, you idiot, I’m a firebender.”

Sokka’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t I ever think of that?!” He swam right up next to Zuko until they were touching skin to skin. “Warm me up!” He exclaimed. Zuko was visibly uncomfortable with cuddling Sokka while they were both practically naked and scooched away until there was a conversational distance between the two. “I’m not gonna snuggle with you!” He retorted; it would have been a shout if he was fully awake, “I’ll warm the water up like I usually do and you can swim around or whatever, I don’t care. Just let me concentrate.” 

He let his body slide down in the water until he was resting on a natural rock “bench” and his head was just barely above water. His nose toed the line between the surface and submersion while his golden eyes flicked around for a moment before closing, his now wet hair plastered to his forehead, some of it swimming in the water below, and took a sigh. He looked like he was meditating. 

Sooner than Sokka expected, the water began to grow warmer and warmer, and it was steaming within a few minutes. It reminded him of the rare hot bath he had been able to take at home in the South Pole. Zuko just sat there with his eyes closed and enjoyed the heat and steam, but Sokka, as usual, was feeling chatty. 

“How does that work exactly?” He asked, earning an annoyed look. “I mean, you’re obviously firebending because the water is hot, but where’s the fire? I mean, it’s not like any other benders can do anything like that.” 

Zuko huffed and twin jets of steam escaped his nose. He had to sit up straighter to talk, his mouth was underwater. “Fire isn’t just flame,” He said, “It’s heat. Flame is pure heat, but you can still have heat without flame. Think about when metal glows red hot, there’s no flame, but it’s still hot, right? That’s basically me. I can make things hot without flames.” 

Sokka wasn’t expecting that good of an answer from the prince, and he sat up in the water, engaged. “Wow!” He exclaimed, “That’s got to be so nice, have you taught Aang to do that? I could get used to this every day.” 

Zuko shook his head. “No, I’m trying to focus on more important things with him, like how to kill my dad.” He looked bitter as he said it, and Sokka realized that he hadn’t thought about what had kept Zuko up last night. 

“Oh... sorry.” Said Sokka awkwardly. “Do you... wanna talk about it?” 

Zuko glanced at him, then closed his eyes and took another deep breath through his nose. “I hate him. He deserves to die, and I know I need to do my part to take him down. That’s the whole reason why I’m here with you guys. But that doesn’t make it feel any less treasonous.” 

Sokka had been expecting a hard “no” from the prince when he asked if he wanted to talk, so he was naturally caught off guard at the answer. He scrambled to throw enough words together to make a response. His usually sharp verbiage was not working properly this morning, because all he could come up with was, “Why?” 

Zuko gave him a glare at the insensitive answer. “I abandoned my home and my people so I could go train my nation’s greatest enemy on how to kill my father! Does that sound like loyalty to you?” 

Sokka sputtered. “No I mean - I guess - but you’re doing the right thing! Doesn’t that feel good?” 

Zuko sunk a little lower in the water. “Not really...” He mumbled. “I guess I’m just conflicted because...” Zuko paused and let out a defeated breath. “As evil as he may be... he’s still my dad. I’ve seen him do horrible things to me and Azula and the rest of the world... but I’ve also seen him when he’s just being a person, you know? Even monsters have human moments.” 

Sokka realized that Zuko was opening up — something he never did. That made him the therapist, like how he was with Aang before the invasion. Doctor Wang Fire was back in business. He stroked his imaginary beard. “Like what?” He asked. 

Zuko thought for a minute. “My family used to take vacations on this place called Ember Island. There was this terrible theater group called The Ember Island Players and my mom would drag the whole family to the theater, and it was always so bad. One time, my dad really didn’t want to go, so me, him, and Azula all hid under the bed and laughed while my mom looked for us. By the time she found us, the show had already started and we missed it.”

Sokka almost laughed at the objectively funny story before he remembered that this was  _evil Fire Lord Ozai_ he was talking about. Zuko was almost smiling, one corner of his mouth faintly turned up, and his eyes were in a far off place. 

“That sounds fun,” Sokka said. 

“It was fun. And now we have to kill him.” Zuko furrowed his brow bitterly. 

Doctor Wang Fire took a drag from his pipe. “Would it help you to think about all the bad things he’s done? You know, to remind yourself why you’re doing this?” 

Zuko looked unsure, but spoke anyways. “Well, there was this one time when I was really little ... one of the gardeners at the palace had no one to take care of her son while she was at work so she brought him with her. I saw him in the garden and he was about my age so I started playing with him. When my dad saw us, he got so angry with me. He grabbed my wrist and yanked me away from the kid and said, ‘Zuko, I don’t ever want to see you talk to the commoners again!’ He was firebending while he grabbed me and he burnt my wrist really bad. After that, I never saw the gardener or her son again...” 

That sounded much more in character for the evil Fire Lord than the first story Zuko told. But Sokka’s heart still ached for his friend, being burned because of an innocent friendship. Part of him felt a swell of pride, though. Zuko wasn’t supposed to talk to commoners, but he was talking to him! He brushed the feeling aside. 

“That’s terrible, Zuko...” He consoled. 

Zuko looked away. “I know. I felt so guilty, I thought it was my fault that gardener lost her job. She was always nice to me.” 

Sokka nodded thoughtfully. “Hmmm... so do you feel any better now?” He asked. 

“No.” 

“Well... do you maybe want a distraction?” 

“Like what?” 

“I liked hearing about your firebending. Will you tell me more?”

Zuko softened a little bit. “Sure,” He said, and lifted his hand out of the water. “Watch this.” He lit a flame in his palm and the water on his skin quickly dissipated into steam. Sokka looked at him and grinned, eyes open wide and mouth hung open. Suddenly, a gush of water dropped on Zuko’s head, drenching him and extinguishing his fire with a _hiss_. Sokka giggled as Zuko sputtered and turned around to face the waterbending culprit. It was Aang, with a huge smile on his face. 

“Good morning Mister Sokka Water Tribe, Mister Zuko Fire Nation, Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty, your Momoness!” The lemur had come too. 

Aang giggled and jumped into the pool, using waterbending to create a huge splash, drenching Zuko for the second time. Sokka thought it really said something about the firebender’s character growth that he didn’t immediately start yelling and scolding the Avatar, but instead looked at him disapprovingly and kept his mouth shut. 

“Wow, the water is so warm! Did you do that, Zuko?” The Avatar asked. Zuko nodded stiffly, still giving him the evil eye for drenching him  twice . Aang was unaffected. He swam right up next to his firebending teacher like Sokka had done a couple minutes ago and sat down next to him. “Will you teach me how to do it?” Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine.” Sokka gave Zuko a wink. 

Aang and Zuko worked on heating the water for about twenty minutes, and Sokka got out of the pool, laid on a rock, and enjoyed the steam. By the time the impromptu bending lesson was over, his pores were open and his body felt free. Aang had to scurry off to meet Toph for earthbending practice before she created an earthquake from impatience, and Zuko was a tad boiled from sitting in the hot water for so long, so he hauled himself out and sat with his legs crossed on the shore. The two boys just sat there in silence for about ten minutes before Sokka got up and sat next to him. 

“You feel better now, jerkbender?” He asked. Zuko didn’t even react to being called a jerkbender. He just sat up and looked at Sokka. “You know what?” He said. “I guess I do.” 


End file.
